Press release from UC Berkeley SJP.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For the first time in the University of California history, the UC Berkeley Student Senate has approved a bill to divest from two US companies in response to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and to Israel’s siege and bombardment of the Gaza Strip. The Senate bill directs both the UC Regents and the Student Government to divest from General Electric and United Technologies. General Electric manufactures Apache helicopter engines; United Technologies manufactures Sikorsky helicopters and F-16 aircraft engines. In addition, the bill creates a task force to look into furthering a socially responsible investment policy for the UC system.
Student Senator Rahul Patel supported the bill, declaring that “in the 1980s the Student Government was a central actor in demanding that the university divest from South African apartheid. 25 years later, it is a key figure in shaping a nationwide movement against occupation and war crimes around the world. Student Government can be a space to mobilize and make decisions that have a significant impact on the international community. We must utilize these spaces to engage each other about issues of justice worldwide.”
The Senate deliberation, which started Wednesday night, concluded at 3 am Thursday morning, March 18. The meeting was flooded with students, educators, and community members, which prompted the relocation of the Senate session from the Senate Chambers to a larger room. The attendees took turns making impassioned arguments for and against the bill. The diverse list of guest speakers included 76 names, ranging in age from college freshmen to Vietnam veterans. After amendments, the final bill passed on a 16-4 vote.
In addition to Israeli military action, the student initiative was motivated by an 2005 call on behalf of 171 Palestinian civil society organizations calling on “people of conscience all over the world to impose broad boycotts and implement divestment initiatives against Israel … until it fully complies with the precepts of international law.”
According to Emiliano Huet-Vaughn, co-author of the bill, “this vote is an historic step in holding all state and corporate actors accountable for their violations of basic human rights. The broad cross section of the community that came out to demand our university invest ethically belies the notion that the American people will tolerate the profiting from occupation or other human rights abuses.” Student Senator Emily Carlton, co-sponsor of the bill, agreed, adding “this action will only be historic if it is repeated throughout the country and the world; I hope that student governments all over America will see in this a sign that the time to divest from war is now.”
In 2009, Hampshire College in Amherst, MA, became the first US educational institution to divest from companies directly involved in the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Hampshire College action was advocated by the group Students for Justice in Palestine, and ultimately adopted by the Board of Trustees. Today, through its Student Senate bill, UC Berkeley becomes the first large, public US institution to endorse a similar measure.
UC Berkeley Students for Justice in Palestine has been working on a divestment campaign from entities that profit from the occupation of Palestine since 2000. UC Berkeley Law Students for Justice in Palestine, founded in 2007, played a central role in researching the legal issues and the international laws pertaining to Israeli human rights violations.
Download the text of the UC Berkeley Divestment Bill here. (File updated 3/19; earlier version had minor errors)
Related posts:
- New Divestment Campaign at Stanford U.
- Senate Passes Immigration Bill
- Divestment Conference in February
- Anti-Divestment Heads Roll: The Corruption Culture of Divestment Opponents
- Hampshire College divests from Israeli occupation
I am proud of being a UC Berkeley alum.
Posted by nahloul | March 18, 2010, 4:24 pmThe BILL was VETOED!
Posted by guest | May 18, 2010, 4:02 pmPure hypocrisy.
Posted by Friend of Israel | March 18, 2010, 5:10 pmYes, you are. Because an actual "friend" of Israel wouldn't support its war crimes.
Posted by Guest | March 18, 2010, 6:15 pmFor the record, though, the student government at the University of Michigan – Dearborn (also a sizable public institution) passed a resolution in support of divestment years ago. Wayne State University's student government also passed such a resolution in 2004 or 2005. Hopefully this momentum will continue.
Posted by Fadi | March 18, 2010, 5:30 pmThe Student Senate makes investment legislation? I had no idea.
Posted by Person | March 18, 2010, 6:24 pmASUC has its own investments, which it commits in this bill to purging from companies that profit from the occupation. Additionally it calls on the UC Regents to divest its considerably larger investments along the same lines.
Posted by yaman | March 18, 2010, 6:36 pmThat is how Apartheid in South Africa get eradicated and defeated.
Israeli lovers can call it hypocrisy or whatever negative name they could come up with. I say, way to go UC Berkeley. You set an example for other colleges to fellow.
After all, that is what American people stand for: decency, fairness, equality, and justice for ALL.
Posted by Mahmoud El-Yousseph | March 18, 2010, 6:56 pmMahmoud I am so sorry to contradict you but you are very wrong when you said "That is how Apartheid in South Africa get eradicated and defeated". No my dear, maybe you are young or maybe you do not know the history but who put down the disgusting and cruel Apartheid Regime in South Africa was the sweat, blood ,sacrifice and heroism of the Cuban people, not a boycott, not Eltoin John or who ever hell wen to singing there…Ask Mr Mandela
Posted by catauro | March 19, 2010, 2:37 amYeah, it is hypocrisy. Let's see how the Palies enjoy living under Hamas rule. http://www.geoffmetcalf.com/history_20020508.html
Posted by nyc165 | April 29, 2010, 12:02 pmwow, im a student and i missed the meeting. i missed out on history!
Posted by all | March 18, 2010, 7:00 pmHow will divestment from these two companies have any impact whatsoever on the Arab-Israeli conflict? Why these two companies and not a host of others? Why not investigate investments made with companies or organizations that support Palestinian terrorism? This whole affair stinks of left-wing demagoguery, in which supposed liberals champion a naive view of the world by demonizing Jews. It has happened before, and apparently we have learned nothing from it. For shame.
Posted by You can't be serious | March 18, 2010, 3:40 pmIf you compile a list of multi-national corporations that support "Palestinian terrorism," I promise to lead a campaign against them.
Posted by Programmer Buydatti | March 18, 2010, 7:48 pmWhats the Arab-Israeli conflict? This is rape, not a conflict.
Who are the Arabs? We're talking about indigenous people, not the neighboring nations.
Posted by CFab | March 18, 2010, 8:12 pmthe arabs came from arabia. The indigenous people, the bedouin, seem to prefer Israeli control to arab persecution.
Posted by we todd did | March 18, 2010, 8:29 pmBedouins aren't the only indigenous ones. Not all Arabs come from Arabia. Unless you can disprove these two statements forcefully…..
Posted by TheDude | March 18, 2010, 9:32 pmand we all came from Africa, so what's your point? Just as multi-faceted as an 'American Identity' is so are other identities. Playing semantics is weak game.
Posted by Gayrab | March 22, 2010, 1:52 amDivestment from companies who support the policies of Israeli occupation and settlement tells the Israeli government that these policies have in a very real way become unpopular in the world at large. That is why BDS campaigns focus on divesting from corporations directly involved in the occupation, rather than companies who serve Israel in general. An example is the successful campaign against Motorola for providing the Israeli army with all its communications equipment, or the recent withdrawal by an engineering firm contracted to build a light rail in Jerusalem that would bypass East Jerusalem and other Arab settlements and instead connect West Jerusalem directly to the illegal Israeli settlements surrounding Jerusalem. BDS campaigns are particularly important at this moment given the current economic crisis and ability to sway companies' investment options through pressuring already fragile establishments. In no way does boycotting the mostly international companies who support the military occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip imply antisemitic or racist remarks against the Israeli population as a whole, let alone the Jewish population outside of Israel. Many of those who do not support Israel's policies do so for anti-semitic reasons, but this does not reflect on the anti-occupation movement as a whole and the vast majority of American Boycott Divestment Sanction campaigns contain Jewish members and do not engage in any anti-semitic rhetoric. As far as Palestinians are concerned, many view Jews and Israelis in terms of the vastly imbalanced power dynamic that exists in Israel today and because the only Israelis they have a chance to be in contact with support this power imbalance, whether as soldiers or as settlers engaging in vigilantism, they link anti-occupation sentiments with anti-Jewish sentiments. Israeli Arabs are often listed as the least anti-Semitic because they, unlike their comrades in refugee camps and villages under curfew, have a chance to see and interact with Israelis outside of the power dynamics of occupation.
Posted by Left-Wing Demagogue | March 20, 2010, 1:16 amIt is not liberals who are buying the lies of the state of Israel, I am a staunch Conservative and I think that Israel has being abusing the human rights of the Palestinian people for over 6 decades. Why is it that Israel is constantly building endless amounts of settlements in the West Bank? Why is it that AIPAC (which controls the American government) pressures America to give trillions and trillions of dollars to the state of Israel? Has Israel been an ally of America? NO. Why? Look up the USS Liberty incident where US troops shot an American ship and tried to blame it on the Egyptians. Also, when Israel attacks Palestinian territories, why do Israeli forces make it hard for Palestinians to get food, get water, get shelter, get healthcare treatment and other things.
Israel is trying to make excuses about everything. I am not racist against Jews and I am not trying to be anti-Semitic, but the fact is that, Israelis (European Jews) have been stealing land from Palestinians and driving them out of their lands. Why does AIPAC beg for ridiculously large amounts of foreign aid from other countries all the time? Because Israel wants to constantly expand and warmonger, that is why. They are abusing human rights, that is why. Stating the facts is not racist and anti-Semitic.
Infact, there are many Jews who criticise the behavior of Israel actually.
Posted by Spencer | January 19, 2012, 2:16 amIf you compile a list of multi-national corporations that support "Palestinian terrorism," I promise to lead a campaign against them, lol.
Posted by Programmer Buydatti | March 18, 2010, 7:47 pmThis bill is we todd did.
Posted by we todd did | March 18, 2010, 8:28 pmI suppose that Palestinians blowing up buses with Israeli women and children, and setting off thousands of rockets at Israeli towns and cities is not a violation of human rights? Palestinians have been offered extremely fair terms for their own state a number of times and they repeatedly have refused to take advantage of these. In my opinion, these students are practicing the new form of ant-semitism. I thought universities were places where students went to obtain an education, not rabble rouse and create animosity.
Posted by Elazare | March 18, 2010, 5:00 pmI think you have been on Fox news too much. You know they have a studio set up just to show the news that you are talking about. Maybe they can hire you as one of their actors in the future.
Posted by random | March 18, 2010, 9:05 pmEuropeans invaded Palestine not the other way around. Israel needs to get out of Palestine! And I mean all the way.
Posted by Genie | October 8, 2010, 4:17 pmYou are being feeded by the Pro-Zionist media who wants to brainwash people in claiming that Palestinians are bloodthristy evil vilians that want to kill Jews and destroy them my friend. This is outright lies. Fact is, the Israeli lobby has tried to exert power over the US Government and lied and manipulated it's way in trying to manipulate governments in joining the Israeli campaign to displace, relocate, torture, murder, rape, bomb and drive out Palestinians out of their native lands. Why is that the Israel lobby trying to cover up the fact that they have stolen land and driven out so many non-Jewish people from Palestine. It is not racist or anti-Semitic to state the fact that Israel is engaged in full fledged ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people. This is not racist. Infact it is racist how you are blatantly stating the lies to cover up Israel's wrongdoings. Everyone in the USA is tired of how trillions of dollars goes to a state that was as racist as Apartheid South Africa. I have no problems with Jews, I just am tired of Zionist (Racist) excuses. Everyone is tired of Zionism, including a lot of Jews themselves.
Posted by Chuck Aksoy | January 16, 2012, 4:08 amMore details on earlier resolution to divest from Israel:
http://dearbornboycottsisrael.blogspot.com/2010/0…
That Wayne State University Resolution was for TOTAL divestment from Israel:
Posted by Boycott Israel | March 18, 2010, 9:22 pmThe 2010 University of Michigan divestment resolution:
http://dearbornboycottsisrael.blogspot.com/2010/0…
Posted by Boycott Israel | March 18, 2010, 9:24 pm1) Palestinians are banned from 60 professions in Lebanon. Palestinians living in Lebanon for decades are usually denied Lebanese citizenship and have no rights to vote under the Lebanese Apartheid state.
Will there be divestment from companies doing business in Lebanon?
2) Kuwait's government expelled over 300,000 Palestinians from Kuwait after the First Gulf War because Yasser Arafat supported Saddam Hussein in the First Gulf War.
Will there be divestment from companies doing business in Kuwait?
3) Yasser Arafat stole international aid money in the 1990's so that his wife could live in luxury in Paris and go on shopping sprees. Arafat helped to fund the construction of a casino in Jericho across the street from a refugee camp.
Will there be divestment from companies doing business with the Palestinian Authority?
4) The Jordanian Army massacred thousands of Palestinians in Jordan in the early 1970's during Black September. Recently, thousands of Palestinians in Jordan had their Jordanian citizenship revoked by the Jordanian government for no reason other than they were Palestinians.
Will there be divestment from companies doing business with Jordan?
5) The Jewish communities of Iraq and Egypt do not exist anymore after Jews were persecuted and chased out of Iraq and Egypt. The Jews of Baghdad, Cairo and Alexandria were expelled and their property confiscated since 1948.
Will there be divestment from companies doing business with Egypt and Iraq?
The answer to the aforementioned 5 question is definitely no. Why? Because Israel is not involved. When Arab States persecute Palestinians, or when Arab States expel their Jewish populations, nobody really cares.
I think we know the real agenda of the Berkeley Student Association: Demonizing Israel because it's Jewish. When the Arab states target Palestinians, nobody cares.
Posted by John Doe | March 18, 2010, 9:43 pmWhat a foolish argument. what you described is almost a mirror of what was happening to the Jews in Europe. Both peoples were/are unwanted in their areas due to certain powers kicking them out of their homelands, forcing them to relocate to nations in which the influx of people was regarded as unwelcome. The difference between them is that one is now oppressing the other. THAT is the conflict we are focusing on here. The Palestinian people never oppressed their Jewish neighbors, so why must they suffer under their hands?
If you would like to focus on helping the Palestinian people in their other various plights, kindly direct your attention to the proper website/forum/article dealing with that specific problem. This article, however, deals specifically with the issue of Israel committing the very crimes you accuse various Arab countries of committing.
Please refrain from asking, "hey, why is this country being singled out?" Instead, if wrongs are being committed by that nation, stand firm against them. If you are advocating action be taken against the arab nations you speak of (on which I agree with you fully), you cannot overlook Israel's obvious faults as well. If not, your ulterior motive will bleed through your argument, of which I am afraid it already has.
Posted by Jane Doe | March 19, 2010, 1:07 amI ask: Whose fault is it that Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority took international aid money and constructed a casino in Jericho across the street from a refugee camp? It's really just a tad embarrassing. Forbes Magazine diligently pointed that out in 2003 when Arafat was still around.
http://www.forbes.com/global/2003/0317/014.html
Please explain what the Palestinian Authority did with their international aid money.
Has the Palestinian leadership proven its ability to manage money or to govern responsibly? Certainly not.
Any criticism of Israel must be accompanied by intense scrutiny of the corruption and incompetence of Palestinians leaders since 1993.
Posted by John Doe | March 19, 2010, 2:03 amYou are embarrassingly misinformed. Firstly, the communities mentioned throughout the Middle East in the above post were centuries old you ignoramus. Secondly, Israel, then called Palestine, was never under Arab sovereignty. NEVER. Thirdly, regardless of what you think of Israel, it is quite interesting that you completely ignored all of the poster's clear and logical points, i.e. why is Israel forced to incorporate the """"refugee"""" (notice my overuse of quotes) when no other Arab country is so forced? And lastly, the Palestinians never oppressed their Jewish neighbors???? Read a fuckin book you ignorant moron!!!! Have you ever heard of the 1920 Palestine riots – 1921 in Jaffa – 1929 Palestine riots — War of 1948 — Six-Day War (1967) – Yom Kippur War (1973) – South Lebanon conflict (1978) –South Lebanon conflict (1982–2000) – First Intifada (1987–1993) – Second Intifada (2000–2008). I know you will just skirt around all of these points as well, maybe point out my foul language, but so be it. You can't have a discussion with a totally deluded idiot.
Posted by UCB Graduate Student | April 14, 2010, 3:37 amWell spoken John Doe.
Posted by Ariel Blumenthal | March 24, 2010, 12:56 amGood for you John Doe!
Posted by nyc165 | April 29, 2010, 12:02 pmSo all the wrong-doings of Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon etc allow Israel to colonize and steal? Sure all these Arab dictatorships (BFFs of USA and Israel) persecute and harrass Palestinians but does that make indiscriminate killing, theft of land, unfair and inhumane occupation by Israel (funded by USA and supported by Arab dictators (not people, but the dictators) acceptable and laudable?!?!
Israel is demonized coz of its actions and not because its Jewish. The enemy is Zionism and not Judaism!
Posted by Guest | March 18, 2010, 10:03 pmThis is the biggest b.s. ever.
You might as well give up all your technology including cell phones, computers and medical technology because Israel helped to make that too.
Israel is not an apartheid state, there are Arabs, Christians, Jews, etc. who are all Israeli citizens.
Israel targeted places like schools, mosques, etc. because terrorists are hiding in there using children and innocent civilians as human shields.
But what people forget is that Hamas is the one hurting those in Gaza the most.
P.S. If Berkeley is so "liberal" and believes in Human Rights and Peace, then why are they contributing to the making of nuclear weapons that most of their students and alum don't know about.
The one word to describe this resolution is IGNORANCE.
Posted by ANGRY UC Student | March 18, 2010, 10:13 pmYes Israeli citizens but different rules apply to people of different religion, huh?
'Only democracy in the Middle East' is no better than its neighbourly dictatorships and monarchies as far as discrimination, state terrorism, censorship, racism etc are considered.
Posted by Guest | March 19, 2010, 1:11 amThe forum for comments began with REAL international law violations made by Israel. I went as an objective observer and my support for the bill increased once facts were brought forward by legitimate sources such as Boalt and personal testimonies. Don't be so angry.
Posted by be smart | March 21, 2010, 5:02 pmThe Arab states like Iraq and Egypt stole and occupied virtually all Jewish owned land in those countries since 1948. The Jewish communities of those countries don't exist. But hey, let's forget about that.
P.S. Remember how the PLO and Arafat supported Saddam Hussein's occupation and invasion of Kuwait? An Inconvenient Truth. Arafat actually supported a military occupation of Kuwait by the Iraqi Army. What a HYPOCRITE.
Posted by John Doe | March 18, 2010, 10:34 pmHave you even slghtly heard of the Lavon Affair and its likes?
No idea if Arafat did or did not support Iraq invasion of Kuwait but I definitely recall Saddam Hussein being the blue-eyed boy of US and Israel as long as he met their objectives and despite his harrassment of Kurd and Shia Iraqis.
Posted by Guest | March 19, 2010, 1:08 amhttp://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/plohistor…
There. Al Jazeera, of all media outlets, discussing Arafat's support for a military invasion and military occupation of Kuwait by Iraq. The Palestinian Liberation Organization is the biggest bunch of hypcorites around. Arafat wants occupation over for his people, but supported an Iraqi occupation of Kuwait.
Posted by John Doe | March 19, 2010, 2:09 amGreat job UC Berkeley. Now maybe other schools can follow in your footsteps and finally people can realize that we need to take action in order for something to happen!
Posted by Go UC Berkeley!! | March 18, 2010, 5:00 pmC'mon Michigan– you can do it!
Posted by Boycott Israel | March 18, 2010, 11:38 pmThe U.S. has contributed enormously to the creation of Israel, and is internationally seen as their backer. Without us, they probably wouldn't have survived. That's why it's important for us to scrutinize Israel's actions with more care than we do the actions of other neighboring countries. So when Israel is being racist and committing genocide, we have a duty to remove our support. This is a step in the right direction, but not nearly enough. For starters, we should not agree to give our support to any religious governments, and only deal with secular governments. Israel is a safe haven for people of the Judaic religion, but military and political power in the hands of religious force is a recipe for disaster.
Posted by UCSB Student | March 19, 2010, 12:37 amYou are a student at a university and are so ignorant? i hope your parents aren't paying your tuition. Your ignorance is astounding. You clam that we should not give our support to "any religious government?" What you really mean is that we should pull our money from the "Jews." You got one thing right – Israel is a haven for Jewish people, but 1/3 of its population is ARAB!!! Genocide? Not hardly. If Israel wanted to wipe out the Palies, you'd know it. Please, open a freaking history book and don't believe all this left wing crap you hear. http://www.geoffmetcalf.com/history_20020508.html
Posted by ira | April 29, 2010, 12:07 pmwe shouldn't divest from anything. student senate shouldn't be so political.
Posted by Berkeley Student | March 19, 2010, 1:29 amGo UC Berkeley! hopefully others will follow your example.
Posted by For Peace & Justice | March 19, 2010, 2:12 amFor the sake of readers, here is the call for cultural & academic boycott:
CALL FOR ACADEMIC AND CULTURAL BOYCOTT OF ISRAEL
Whereas Israel‘s colonial oppression of the Palestinian people, which is based on Zionist ideology, comprises the following:
Denial of its responsibility for the Nakba — in particular the waves of ethnic cleansing and dispossession that created the Palestinian refugee problem — and therefore refusal to accept the inalienable rights of the refugees and displaced stipulated in and protected by international law;
Military occupation and colonization of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and Gaza since 1967, in violation of international law and UN resolutions;
The entrenched system of racial discrimination and segregation against the Palestinian citizens of Israel, which resembles the defunct apartheid system in South Africa;
More info here, http://www.pacbi.org/ and here http://www.bdsmovement.net/
Posted by HHM | March 19, 2010, 3:03 amI am a Jewish American and I fully support the divestment legislation! The occupation, the border closures, the second class citizenship of Arab-Israelis (the govt wont even let them run for office!) has got to end. A just solution is the only way to move forward, any other would meet with just resistance.
Posted by Amy | March 19, 2010, 4:12 amAmy, your facts are just wrong.
There are THIRTEEN CURRENT Arab Members of the Knesset.
Afu Agbaria
Hamad Amar
Mohammad Barakeh
Taleb el-Sana
Masud Ghnaim
Ayoob Kara(Former Deputy Knesset Speaker)
Said NafaBalad
Hana Sweid
Majalli Wahabi (Former Deputy Knesset Speaker, former acting PRESIDENT of the Knesset)
Jamal Zahalka
Haneen Zoubi
Two former Deputy Speakers of the Knesset are ARABS!
There is an Arab judge named SALIM JOUBRAN on the Israeli Supreme Court, which has overruled the Israeli government on its Palestinian policies many times. But hey, don't let this inconvenient truth stop your Israel boycotts.
P.S. Virtually all computers have Intel products. Intel develops its processors in Israel and Costa Rica. Microsoft has much of its software developed in Israel. So you'd better make sure no Intel processors or Microsoft. And Instant messengers were developed in Israel like ICQ, so no more IM'ing either.
Even assuming all the allegations of the divestment motion are true….While UC Berkeley's Student Association is at it, why don't they boycott themselves for learning on land in California that once belonged to Native Americans? The Student Association should lead by example. Boycott their own campus for being on Native American land.
Posted by John Doe | March 19, 2010, 6:13 amYes yes yes….. go for Freedom of Jewish lobbying!
Posted by katy | March 19, 2010, 9:38 amYup, and there you have it. This isn't about Israel, it's about disgusting anti-semitism.
Posted by Ilene | April 29, 2010, 12:08 pmHow is anti-Semitic to state that Israel is killing and maming innocent children. They are bombing cities, children, men and women at alarming rates and Israel is building settlements in Jerusalem and killing people at alarming rates. Zionism = Jewish Racism + Apartheid. By being against Zionism, you are NOT against Judaism, you are against a Talmudic form or Nazism.
Posted by Chuck Aksoy | January 16, 2012, 3:50 amIn Response to HHM and your call for boycott of Israel. Please cease your creative re-writing of history! While you may be emotional about your beloved Palestinians, please try to stay somewhat cognizant of facts and history. After all you are in an institution of higher learning and there must be a few history professors who can help you separate fact from fiction. There is no colonial oppression of the Palestinian people. There has been no ethnic cleansing of Arabs, and there is no apartheid system. The Arab Israeli's would prefer to remain Israeli's and do not want to become part of a Palestinian state. They have rights in Israel, they vote, and they hold political offices, and they receive a good education. They even serve in the military. Under a Palestinian state they would lose most of their rights, would be educated in theology and propaganda, and women lose most rights.
Posted by Elazare | March 19, 2010, 2:02 pmFact : you need to read more and stop washing FOX news and reading bibles
Posted by catauro | March 19, 2010, 9:46 pmThe fact that you would categorize a Person as "Arab Israeli" is the fact that you have an apartheid system. In the USA where we had an apartheid system we have the remnants of verbiage such as "African American," when we should just call a black American as just "American" You see, you cannot say that something like Apartheid is not happening when the majority of us who read the Kabobfest blog have gone to East Jerusalem, Ramallah, and Tel Aviv. The mere fact that Netanyahu will push for the building for Jewish homes in East Jerusalem is an act of APARTHEID.
Posted by Jew for Palestine | March 22, 2010, 4:37 amAMAZING!!!!! so proud of you hardworking people.
Posted by texas companion | March 19, 2010, 5:29 pmToo bad this legislation doesnt talk about WHY Israel went into Gaza… because Palestianian terrorists are shooting qassam rockets into Israel, especially Sderot, so often.
Its nice to know that UC Berkeley and the UN don't believe in a country's ability to defend themselves.
Posted by UCSC Student | March 19, 2010, 7:16 pmMuch ado about nothing. Yet another example of leftist hypocrisy and antisemitism. Did these same humanitarians call for divestment in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Yemen etc.? Of course, no Jews there. What about Egypt, where Coptic's are being butchered by government sanctioned mobs? How about Zimbabwe?
Posted by IslamoHunter | March 19, 2010, 8:40 pmIndeed, this is a comment by someone who's never looked over the Israeli Separation Barrier; what is described is a hopelessly inaccurate caricature of Palestinian society. Ramallah is full of well educated, liberal-mined women and men, as a trip to any of the city's bars and cafes will prove. Rather, what Elazare does is equivalent to generalising about the character and aspirations of Israeli Jews as being identical with extreme Orthodox Judaism. Nor has this reader examined Israeli law. Arab Israelis certainly have 'rights'–but so did, strictly-speaking non-whites in South Africa. The problem is, they have the rights of second-class citizens. Equal Marriage rights, citizenship rights, property rights, employment opportunities, and of course the infamous 'right of return' are all denied Israeli Arabs for no other reason than their race/ethnicity-in a manner that makes the comparison with South African Apartheid both appropriate and fair.
And even Ehud Barak agrees:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mj-rosenberg/ehud-b…
Posted by OzPeter | March 20, 2010, 1:48 amToo bad this legislation doesnt talk about WHY Israel went into Gaza..
Gaza rocket kills Thai farm worker in Israel
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – A rocket fired by Gaza militants smashed into a greenhouse in an Israeli border village Thursday, killing a Thai worker
Posted by greenhouse | March 20, 2010, 2:00 amIf this is the the thinking of the students and faculty I will divest my funds to any group, charity or business that that does business with the University.
Posted by A graduate | March 20, 2010, 7:11 pmPalestinians have tried to attain peace through friendly co-existence. There is no smoke without fire. Action = Reaction; if there was no oppression then everything would be hunky-dory.. You know its not about you being a Jew, its about the mere fact that you will ignore the blaring obvious. No one wants to dislike Jews.. I cannot speak for others; however, I know without a doubt I want justice and Peace for everyone.. A right to live where ever I want in my own land without fear of it being stolen from me. I have that right. I have a home in the NYC, and my parents have a vacationing home in Haifa. When I found out how they got a steal on their real estate. I pulled away from my Zionist roots. We do not have the right as a European Jew to go into a town and say I have a biblical right to your land. Who told me so.. G-d.. that is what crazy ppl do..
Posted by Jew For Palestine | March 22, 2010, 4:39 amWhat if my Israelite Boy friend were to create a friendship with the USA gov't and create a movement called Israel-litism and say< I come from a tribe in Uganda that is without a doubt a lost tribe of Israel!! All of you Ashkenazi's are impostors. You folks are not the bliblical jews that was written in the bible but I am! You have to move!!! If you do not move we will kill you and bulldoze your home? How the heck would you like that?
Posted by Jew for Palestine | March 22, 2010, 4:39 amThank the gods we finally started to boycott Israel for its inhuman behavior which we have witnessed for the past 60+ years in Palistine and Lebanon and Israel itself. . This is just a start !. It took some time to end similar policies and inhuman acts in South Africa.
Posted by Ken | March 29, 2010, 7:20 pmHave we all forgotten the Palestinians dancing in the streets, after 9/11. When these extremists have finished with Israel they will come to the U.S. Then we shall see the reaction of the sheltered, uninformed students at Berkley. This is not Woodstock, this is real. A group of radical people want to wipe out all of the Jews and then the rest of the" non believers". As Americans we need to defend our only democratic friend in the Middle East. Every country has it's skeletons, but not every country has to deal with rockets coming into it's cities and then have the world and a bunch of spoiled students condemn then when the react. Try living for one day in a bomb shelter, as rockets fall and your children cry every day and are scared to go outside.
Posted by Reality check | April 3, 2010, 1:14 amA UN study noted that there is no hope for the futures of women and children in Arab countries, which are backward and violent cultures. We should stop using oil to force these countries to stop discriminating against their women and children. This resolution shows the power of Arab propaganda, and the one-sidedness of people who want to spend little time understanding what is going on in the Middle East. Shame on UC Berkeley.
Posted by Liz | April 17, 2010, 2:43 pmThe majority is manipulated by the Jewish lobby. What Americans want does matter that is democracy, otherwise it is oligarchy. We have a responsibility to stop the genocide and apartheid of Palestine. I am glad to see students trying and hopefully succeeding in their effort to pull the US out of its mire of Israel, I think they see that it for what it is a nondemocratic and brutal regime. Not only should the US stop support the responsibility goes further to provide and repair clean water and restore the farms (century old olive trees) to sustainability again. American Jews have should have shame for this evil. But they buy our politicians and manipulate our democratic politics by deliberately putting their people in positions to veto votes and pay off Congress.
Posted by Christine Biedul | April 29, 2010, 3:33 pmI say buy our politicians as they remember have dual citizenship
Posted by Christine Biedul | April 29, 2010, 3:41 pmI wish my school could do this, but there's a big pro-Israel hegemony on Israel-Palestine in this school and all over the United States. Someone who is really pro-peace does not support funding Israel. Way to go Berkeley, fight the hegemony and stand up for justice!
Posted by Middlebury College | May 2, 2010, 4:19 pmThis bill ended up not passing in the end.
Posted by Guest | May 18, 2010, 6:15 pmwell to all those Israel sympathizers, what would you expect from people who are literally under siege for more than 35 years.. no rights, no nothing, not by the government, rather by another nation.. hah. then they kill in the name of "war on terror" so this is what u get.. some people just cant take it. so they take the law in their hands.. most of you would do the same in a situation like this..sitting in the US, watching Fox news and talking bull about Palestinians doesn't make any sense..
Posted by Hassan | June 2, 2010, 5:31 pmWhat the UC Berkeley senate has done was totally responsible. The state of Israel has literally abused the rights of the Palestinian people, built big walls against them, deprived them of food, water, medicine, electricity and other needs. Israel keeps on penetrating and building settlements in the Gaza Strip and Jerusalem and constantly drives out Palestinians – both Christians and Muslims out of Gaza, which is similar to what the Nazis did to the Jews. The settlements have grown and grown for about 6 decades total. It is not Anti-Semitic and racist to point the fact. The pro-Israeli lobby has tried to dictate foreign policy in Washington and Capital Hill but people are waking up. Why should American citizens give trillions of tax dollars to a regime that has abused human rights more then North Korea, China, Burma, Sudan or Zimbabwe.
Posted by Chuck Aksoy | January 16, 2012, 3:39 am